History Main / ColorblindMode

[[quoteright:240:[[VideoGame/{{Linx}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/0000000000000linxcblind75.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:240:Pattern recognition > color recognition, in terms of frequency.]]
%%Full size, once images bleeding through headers gets fixed: [[quoteright:320:[[VideoGame/{{Linx}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/0000000000000linxcblind.png]]]]

Not every single person on the planet can see every color in the visible spectrum, or at least, not properly. This is known as Color Blindness, and it comes in many flavors. Some have Protanopia[[note]]the inability to distinguish between colors in the green-yellow-red spectrum[[/note]], deuteranopia[[note]]similar problems to protanopes, but without the abnormal dimming[[/note]], tritanopia[[note]]seeing short-wavelength colors (blue, indigo and a spectral violet) as greenish and drastically dimmed, plus yellow is indistinguishable from pink, and purple colors are perceived as various shades of red[[/note]] or the rarest of them all, monochromacy[[note]]seeing everything as black, white, or gray[[/note]].

As you may expect, this trope is most commonly found in puzzle games that rely on colored objects, or games with ColorCodedMultiplayer that require you to know what team you're on to avoid friendly fire, as well as to know colors of certain abilities that originate form your team. Modern games studios started to add color blind modes into their games in the TheNewTens and beyond, simply for the sakes of accessibility, even if the game didn't require such an option to make the game playable.

ColourCodedForYourConvenience is fine. Colour-Coded for Mandatory Reasons, though... ugh.

Not every single person on the planet can see every color, or at least not properly. Some have protanopia[[note]]inability to distinguish between colors in the green-yellow-red spectrum[[/note]], deuteranopia[[note]]similar problems to protanopes, but without the abnormal dimming[[/note]], tritanopia[[note]]seeing short-wavelength colors (blue, indigo and a spectral violet) as greenish and drastically dimmed, plus yellow is indistinguishable from pink, and purple colors are perceived as various shades of red[[/note]] or even monochromacy[[note]]seeing everything as black, white, or gray[[/note]].

To make games with color elements accessible to a wider audience, developers may add a colorblind mode to their game (though even players with ordinary vision can select the option if they think it makes the game look better). It may affect either the entire screen's palette or only the most vital parts, or symbols/patterns could be added to objects. This is most commonly added to puzzle games which have colored objects or games with ColorCodedMultiplayer.

* ''VideoGame/AHatInTime'' has it in spite of there actually being no puzzles or tasks where seeing in color would be a necessity. Whether it means color-based puzzles were once intended but DummiedOut or if Gears For Breakfast were just looking out for their color-blind fans is anyone's guess.

* ''VideoGame/{{Splatoon}}'' and its [[VideoGame/Splatoon2 sequel]] have a "Color-lock" option, which locks the team colors to bright orange versus dark blue.

To make games with color elements accessible to a wider audience, developers may add a colorblind mode to their game (though even players with ordinary vision may select the option if they think it makes the game look better). It may affect either the entire screen's palette or only the most vital parts, or symbols/patterns may be added to objects. This is most commonly added to puzzle games which have colored objects or games with ColorCodedMultiplayer.

* ''VideoGame/CrystalCrisis'' includes within its crystal colour sets a colourblind set that can be chosen, though it's anyone's guess how effective it is. It also includes an option to make a custom colour set for those unsatisfied with the one given to them.

* ''VideoGame/{{Tetris}} 99'' has an incidental example in the [[TemporaryOnlineContent temporarily-unlockable]] Game Boy ''Tetris'' skin, which uses monochrome patterns on individual blocks to differentiate the seven tetrominoes, unlike the other skins which use colors. Downplayed, in that colors and block designs don't have any functional purpose in ''Tetris'' other than helping players see what the next piece is at a glance.

* ''VideoGame/{{Tetris}} 99'' has an incidental example in the [[TemporaryOnlineContent temporarily-unlockable]] Game Boy ''Tetris'' skin, which uses monochrome patterns to differentiate the seven tetrominoes, unlike the other skins which use colors. Downplayed, in that colors and block designs don't have any functional purpose in ''Tetris'' other than helping players see what the next piece is at a glance.

* ''VideoGame/{{Tetris}} 99'' has an incidental example in the [[TemporaryOnlineContent temporarily-unlockable]] Game Boy ''Tetris'' skin, which uses monochrome patterns to differentiate the seven tetrominoes, unlike the other skins that use colors. Downplayed, in that colors and block designs don't have any functional purpose in ''Tetris'' other than helping players see what the next piece is at a glance.

* ''VideoGame/{{Tetris}} 99'' has an incidental example in the [[TemporaryOnlineContent temporarily-unlockable]] Game Boy ''Tetris'' skin, which uses monochrome patterns rather than colors to differentiate the seven tetrominoes. Downplayed, in that colors and block designs don't have any functional purpose in ''Tetris'' other than helping players see what the next piece is at a glance.

* ''VideoGame/{{Arcaea}}''[='=]s Arc Notes are normally blue and pink, but a toggle changes pink Arcs to yellow.

* The original Windows port of ''VideoGame/ChipsChallenge'' has an option to switch to black and white graphics, since monochrome displays were still in use at the time. Keys and doors are given unique patterns, rather than colors.

* ''VideoGame/{{Arcaea}}''[='=]s Arc Notes are normally blue and pink, but a toggle changes pink Arcs to Yellow.

* ''VideoGame/{{Arcaea}}''[='=]s Arc Note colors are normally blue and pink, but a toggle changes pink Arcs to Yellow.

* ''VideoGame/Doom2016'' has its colorblind settings just filter the game to how it would look like if you had the disability rather than adjusting it to be more useful to such players, making them more suitable for challenge runs/curiosity than actual assistance, though it doesn't require hue recognition that much anyway.

* ''VideoGame/Doom2016'' has its colorblind settings just filters the game to how it would look like if you had the disability rather than adjusting it to be more useful to such players, making it more suitable for challenge runs/curiosity than actual assistance, though it doesn't require hue recognition that much anyway.

TLP Note: I think this is a notable enough subtrope from AntiFrustrationFeatures to warrant its own page. I'm not colorblind myself, but this sort of accessibility enhancer is a good idea. Administrivia/RollingUpdates.
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Indexes: VideoGameTropes